Facing heat. they re comparing that to the fall of saigon in 1975. i want you to listen to secretary of state tony blinken pushing back on that comparison when he spoke with jake tapper yesterday. with this troop surge to air lift americans out of afghanistan, aren t we already inthein the midst of a saigon m. no, we re not. we went to afghanistan with one mission and that mission was to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11. we have succeeded in that mission. the objective that we set bringing those who attacked us to justice, making sure that they couldn t attack us again from afghanistan, we succeeded in that mission. and in fact, we succeeded a while ago. and at the same time, remaining in afghanistan for another one, five, ten years is not in the national interest. you know the british were there for a long time in the 19th century. the russians were there for a long time in the 20th century. we ve been there twice as long
Down the airport, we would have to have a significant presence. we would also, which we do have, we have tremendous ability to bring some phenomenal and very precise fire power from the air that would allow us to create conditions to make it that much more difficult for the taliban. but the question about indefinitely is a very long horizon. okay. so, admirable kirby confirmed to the brianna that the goal is to get the 30,000 people, not just americans, special immigration visas, people helping americans there for decades out of the country, up to 30,000 by august 31st. how possible is that if the only exit point is that airport in kabul? right. very, very tough. if that s the only point of departure becomes extremely difficult. it s a physics problem, we have to get aircraft in, all manner of aircraft and civilian
Withdraw all u.s. troops, there s no question the white house was wrong about the length of time they had. wrong about the strength of the afghan military. wrong about the reach of the taliban. now the question for this minute, does the u.s. have the ability to get all americans out safely? not to mention the thousands and thousands of afghans who have helped the u.s. over the years whose lives hang in the balance this morning? another major concern, is afghanistan will it become a safe haven for terror groups like al qaeda or isis to re-emerge. the u.n. security council is meeting today to consider how or if the world will negotiate with the new taliban leadership. we re going to begin our coverage on the ground in kabul. cnn s chief international correspondent clarissa ward is live there. clar clarissa, you have taken a remarkable trip around the streets including to the site of the former u.s. embassy. reporter: that s right, john.
Government collapsing swiftly after insurgents overranke provincial capitals over the span of the last week and this morning, commercial flights in and out of kabul s airport have been cancelled. the panic among afghans visible at the airport. people flooding the tarmac, desperate to flee the country. embassy officials warning americans not to travel to kabul s airport because it is unsafe. the u.s. rushing an additional 1,000 combat troops to secure the perimeter for evacuation sites. france, new zealand are evacuating their embassy as the taliban claiming to control 90% of the government buildings in kabul after afghan president fled the country. president biden is at camp david and is still there and was briefed over the weekend. now, whether or not one agrees with the president s decision to
Km completely blocked with car. you had people driving down the wrong side of the road. one american friend told me there were scenes of chaos, this crush of people trying to get through and then there was shooting. it s not clear whether the shooting was targeting somebody or whether it was simply someone trying to scatter the crowd because the chaos was too much. but, as you well know, when ever you have a scene like that where you have a crash of humanity, where you have absolute chaos, where you have bullets flying, that s when people get hurt. and i think those images that you re seeing, they re seared into all of our minds, speak to this desperation, how desperate, how petrified does an individual have to be to risk everything and just try to physically crush yourself on to the outside of an airplane? those images of people holding on to a u.s. air force carrier. i think that s something many americans will people around